Unisys launches new cyber resilience service

Unisys sounds like a blast from the past, complete with 1980s soundtrack, but the US information technology giant is still churning out the hits and making around $3 billion a year.

Trouble is, $3 billion, despite being a monumentally massive number in anyone’s book, doesn’t seem to have been enough to avoid a quarterly loss at the end of last year.

The relatively paltry $1.2 million loss in the three months which closed 2016 was the company’s fourth consecutive quarterly loss.

Full year revenue for 2016, however, was steady at $2.8 billion, according to a report on Yahoo! Finance.

Unisys has started 2017 with the launch of what it calls an “advanced cyber resilience service”, a suite of applications to help clients plan for crises related to cyberattacks.

The way it does this is by simulating real-world threats and using them to develop effective avoidance and response policies and procedures, says Unisys.

The company says its new system was developed by customising US Department of Defense cyber wargaming methodology, which it blended with US National Institute if Standards and Technology.

The system looks to be mainly aimed at large enterprise and big government clients.

The man leading the project, and the Unisys resilience testing and planning team, is Unisys global director John Bone, a retired Army colonel and former chief of the Wargaming, Concept Development, and Irregular Warfare Center for the US Joint Forces Command.

As cyber warfare is a growing area of national interest for many governments around the world, it follows that the private sector adopts some of the techniques deployed by the military.

Unisys says Bone led the development and delivery of numerous wargames, including one involving 16 US governmental agencies and Nato to plan a crisis response to transnational organised criminal, state and non-state efforts to destabilise local and regional governments.

Based on his extensive experience, Bone and his team are bringing that expertise to Unisys clients via the new resilience services, says Unisys.

Bone says: “Unisys resilience wargaming is differentiated by our people, programmes and trusted partner relationships, so the results are both immediate and ongoing.

“Working at the client’s comfort level, we collaborate to understand their challenges; build wargame scenarios that align with their real-world threats; and lead, monitor and analyse exercises based on those scenarios. Then we provide honest, actionable feedback to help them improve.”

Unisys offers three levels of service for the new system, ranging from simple to complex, and all built on the company’s intellectual property, customised to the clients’ requirements.

Tom Patterson, chief trust officer, Unisys, says: “The stakes are extremely high for executives responsible for averting any crisis that can result in brand damage, market devaluation or loss of customers.

“Unisys resilience services are part of our complete portfolio of security services, including customised consulting, advanced products including Unisys Stealth and ClearPath Forward, efficient managed services and trusted solutions across both physical and cyber security.”

Unisys is also promoting a book, called Mastering Digital Business, written by Nick Evans, the company’s vice president, technology and strategy and innovation.

Unisys says the book “prescribes a formula” for enterprises to gain competitive advantage by combining innovative technologies – including social, mobile, analytics, cloud, wearables, intelligent automation, robotics and the Internet of Things – with platform business models, a mastery of digital services and best practices in corporate innovation.

Tarek El-Sadany, chief technology officer for Unisys, says: “In Mastering Digital Business, Nick Evans provides a visionary yet pragmatic blueprint for capitalizing on the seismic shifts in technology and business that have become routine in today’s increasingly digital economy.

“Readers can use the flexible, strategic framework that Nick delineates not only to meet current challenges, but also to anticipate and seize on digital business opportunities that are sure to arise in the future.”

The publication of the book follows research by Unisys in partnership with IDG into the thoughts of IT leaders about digital transformation.

Some of the main findings of the survey of 153 senior IT and business executives include:

“The more broadly organizations can adopt new approaches to scaling agility in deploying a business-critical application environment, the better they will be able to realize the full benefits of digital business.”